


Choose Your Own Heartbreak

by sksdwrld



Series: Asterisk [13]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Child, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1219015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of possibilities for Elliot and Eddie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choose Your Own Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> For openveinwriting comment fest February 2014.

1) Elliot stared in horror at the bundle before him. It wasn't just any old package, but a baby, in fact, wrapped in a striped blanket. It was so small, so pink, so helpless, so...ugly.

The nurse smiled and nodded, "Well, go on sweetie, don't you want to hold your daughter?"

Elliot's eyes tripped back over the aqualine nose, the olive-toned skin, and the curly black hair. Then he glanced at the nurse, his lip curling. "It's not mine."

The nurse sighed and smoothed the blanket over the sleeping baby. "Elizabeth named you as the father on the birth certificate."

Elliot tried to swallow down his anger and failed. "Do I look like I'm the father? We're both blonde! This is Jarron's and he should be here, not me. This is not my baby, and I wouldn't want it even if it was. Eddie knew and she didn't want it either, that's why she left!"

At Elliot's tone, the baby awoke and started a shrill cry. Elliot clapped his hands over his ears and growled in frustration. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

Gnawing her lip, Christina stepped forward, looking wistfully at the baby as the nurse picked it up. Then, she put her hands on Elliot's shoulders and steered him out of the room, saying over her shoulder, "We'll just be out in the waiting room. Maybe you can send someone to talk to us out there..."

Soon, a hospital representative joined them, informing Elliot that he would need a blood test and a court order to contest paternity, but that in the meanwhile, the baby was considered his.

"Get a social worker, find a foster home, and put it up for adoption," Elliot glared. "I'm not fit to be a parent."

............

 

2)Elliot stood stock-still in the doorway of the hospital room, looking on as Eddie cooed at the baby in her arms. From there, he could see the sunlight streaming down on them, filtering through the tuft of white-blonde hair that stuck straight up from the baby's head and creating a halo. 

He was certain that he had never seen Eddie look so completely happy. He'd seen her manic, of course, and they'd had their fun times together, but this...this was a side of her he'd never known. 

She spoke softly to the baby, rocking it and bouncing it, stopping as her antics turned her such that she became aware of Elliot's presence. She looked him over from head to foot, smiled, and then turned back to the baby. "Daddy's here!" 

Elliot felt a flush creep up his neck, burning his face and his ears. Still, he was rooted in place, mesmerized, transfixed, terrified. 

"Well, come in, silly!" Eddie beckoned to him and on stilted legs, he did, standing awkwardly until she patted the bed, and like an obedient puppy, he sat. "Here..." 

As she turned toward him with the bundle, he leapt from the bed and moved backward, bumping into the bedside table. It rolled away from him but his heart was hammering in his throat as though it had crashed and spilled all over. 

"Sit down, Elliot, and hold your daughter." 

"I-I don't want to," He stammered. He couldn't even look at her. Tiny, pink, and delicate...he would drop her or crush her or hurt her in some way, he just knew it. 

"You have to," Eddie cooed. "You're going to fall in love with her." 

"I can't..." Elliot said, his throat constricting. 

"Just do it," Eddie said, and that was the bossy person that Elliot was familiar with. 

He sat in the chair and let Eddie place the baby in his arms. For a moment, time stood still. The child in his arms was simultaneously weightless and the heaviest thing he had ever carried. He looked at her tiny upturned nose, her sea-blue eyes, the tiny whorls of her fingers. She was in a little dress with little bows and little booties. Elliot felt like the world was far away and he was not really in it. 

"What's her name?" He heard himself ask. 

"I liked Elora, but I wanted to ask you first," Eddie glanced at him. "In case you had something better. You should have a say, you know." 

He squinted, trying to decide if Elora was fitting and wondered how his mother had chosen Elliot...except that she hadn't. She'd chosen Eli. 

Everything came rushing back at once, and Elliot was suddenly hot, stifled, smothered. The baby squirmed and it was too much. He couldn't do it. He gulped like a fish out of water, stood, and thrust the baby back into Eddie's grasp. 

Swearing, he backpedaled until he was out of the room and then blindly pushed down the hall. His chest was constricting, crushing his heart, stealing his breath. An emergency exit screamed as he pushed through the doors and sank down to the curb with his head in his hands. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He sobbed. There was no one there to hear him.

.............

3)Elliot sometimes wondered what had become of Eddie and the unborn baby she took hostage when she disappeared, en route to the horse farm. He'd never found out if it was his or not, though he had long since told himself that she would have contacted him if it were.

It was the last thing on his mind though, on this of all nights. Paul, the man he'd been seeing for months, had come over with a lovely bottle of wine to accompany the meal Elliot was preparing. They'd talked over their meal; nothing important, just the happenings of the day, but it felt so significant. 

Paul's hand was warm when he reached across the table for Elliot's, and when their eyes met, Elliot knew that this was different from so many others he'd wooed and been wooed by.

When dinner was through, they moved to the couch and later, from the couch to the bed. "God, Paul, I..." Elliot managed between long, burning kisses. "I think I...I love you. I do."

Paul cupped Elliot's face, kissing him once more before returning the sentiment. Elliot was sure he had never been so happy.

When the phone rang, Elliot let it go to the answering machine, certain that it was work or a telemarketer, or one of Jude's children.

 _"Um, Hi...my name is Marshall, um...Marshall Dalton, and um, I think you know my mom, Lizzy... Er, Eddie. She said you knew her as Eddie. I think...God this is weird. I think you might be my Dad..."_

.................. 

4)Other than the one time that Jude had lost his keys in the middle of a drunken bender, Elliot had never heard his doorbell. Most visitors were accompanied by Elliot or Jude, and the few that weren't knocked.

Elliot had been nodding off in the middle of a long study-session but the sound of the bell jerked him awake. He shuffled to the door in his slippers and sweat pants, and on pulling it open, was more than surprised to find Eddie standing there. At her side was a small, tow-headed boy, that Elliot mentally calculated to be about four.

When Eddie made to walk inside, Elliot barred the way with his arm. "What are you doing here?" 

"Coming in." Eddie shoved past him and Elliot scowled.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but I don't want any part of it. You can't stay, you can't leave him here, and I already mailed your check, just like I do every month. We had an agreement. Whatever this is? I can't do it." When Eddie pulled out a chair at the table in the eat-in kitchen, Elliot pushed it back in. He was being a dick and he knew it, but he never had handled surprises well.

"Listen you asshole, all I'm here for is so that you can relinquish your parental rights so Matt can adopt Marshall."

"Oh." Elliot blinked. "Matt-the-rockstar?"

Eddie's lips thinned. "Just sign the fucking paperwork."

"Right." Elliot wandered into the other room and came back with a pen. "Does this mean I get to stop paying child support?"

"Yes," Eddie glared at him and snatched the paperwork back when he was finished. "Goodbye, Elliot. Let's go, Marshall." 

After the door had slammed shut, Elliot experienced a rapid sinking feeling in his stomach. His child, his flesh and blood, was walking out of his life forever. He had never bothered to get to know him, didn't know if Eddie read to him, if he was smart, what he sounded like when he laughed. He'd never hugged him, held his hand, or even said hello. 

Elliot's mother had walked out of his life when he was four, and now his four year old was walking out on him. Desperately, Elliot yanked open the door and ran out into the driveway where Eddie was backing up. He waved his arms and yelled, "Wait!" 

"Too little, too late, Elliot!" Eddie called out the window. "Have fun with your sad fucking life. You coulda had this..." 

And then, they were gone.


End file.
